Bonus Chapter
Search Techniques
You Should Know
I
f you want to optimize your site in the search engines, it’s important to
understand how people search. I use Google for most of the examples in
this bonus chapter because users perform 80 percent of all searches through
Google or a Google partner. But other search engines work in a similar way.
Most people do simple multiword searches by typing the words into the
search box without any other kind of syntax. For instance, they might type
rodent racing or rodent racing scores. Around 80 percent of all searches use
this simple, three-words-or-less type of search syntax.
This is a simple AND search. It tells Google to “find all the pages with the
word rodent, and the word racing, and the word scores." But you can search a
number of other ways by using two basic techniques:
Use Google’s Advanced Search page. (Other search engines generally
have advanced search pages, too.)
Type the words into the search box using a particular syntax.
Many people prefer to use the Advanced Search page, shown in Figure BC-1,
because they don’t have to mess with the syntax. I prefer to type commands
directly from the Google toolbar, which is a little quicker. And to use some
special commands, you have to use the typed command; you can’t search
from the Advanced Search page. (I show you how to download the Google
toolbar in Chapter 1.)
Both of these advanced search techniques can be very useful. In Chapter 2,
for instance, you use one of these techniques to find out which of your pages
Google has indexed. And more people are using these search techniques
every day.
